left-quote ( ` ) on International keyboards [Prothon]

[Norbert Klamann]

"Mark Hahn" <mark at prothon.org> wrote in message news:<mailman.643.1086587288.6949.python-list at python.org>...
> Tuure Laurinolli wrote:
> > Mark Hahn wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> What does deadkey mean?
> >>
> >
> > The same as 'combined key' above. It doesn't immediately produce
> > output, instead you can press some other key after it, ` + a = à, and
> > you can produce the literal with ` + space.
> 
> Thanks.  I can see where the name comes from.
> 
> I never thought of it being used as an accent mark.  I always thought of it
> as a crummy left-quote.  That explains why it is always drawn so high.
> 
> We are thinking of using it as a marker for "symbols" in Prothon.  They are
> like strings but can only be legal variable labels: `var, `init_, `x,
> `account_balance, etc.  I think in our application they look good and won't
> be mistaken for quotes since they don't come in pairs.  They are readable
> and distinquishable in this context.  Also, symbols won't be used that
> frequently so typing won't be too much of a pain.

Be aware of the dangers of bad typesetting ! I once had a hard time to
figure out unix commands where the ` was set as a ' in a commercial
book about unix!

All the best !
Norbert